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Report: N. Korea captures S. Korean boat

(CNN) -- North Korean officials confirmed that they have captured a South Korean vessel that had strayed into North Korean waters, the country's state-run news agency reported Saturday.

"A patrol ship of the Navy of the Korean People's Amy captured one ship of South Korea on July 30 when it illegally intruded deep into the DPRK territorial waters," North Korea's Korean Central News Agency reported.

The seizure of the boat was first reported by South Korea's news agency, Yonhap.

The agency reported that the vessel was a fishing boat with four people onboard.

South Korea's Defense and Unification Ministry said the 29-ton vessel was returning from its fishing operations and mistakenly crossed seven miles into North Korean waters in the process.

The fishing boat was scheduled to return to its port of Geojin on the eastern coast, according to Yonhap.

"There were two recent incidents in 2005 and 2006 in which South Korean vessels crossed over into the North, and records show they were returned to South after three and 18 days, respectively," a ministry official told Yonhap.